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The news of Edson Mitchell's untimely death at the age of 47 has cast a pall over the Euromarkets and the entire banking industry. Do not be under any doubt that Edson was the King of the Euromarkets. He wore that particular crown ever since Hans-Joerg Rudloff was toppled by CSFB insiders in March 1993 and exiled to the Siberia of Credit Suisse HQ. The only pretenders to Mitchell's throne were Connie Voldstad at Merrill, Chris Goekjian at CSFB and Robert Diamond at Barclays Capital. Mitchell was the quintessential $20m a year man who looked the part, loved every minute of life and delivered results time after time when his competitors and imitators could make only shallow promises. Edson's greatest success was in building a world class debt capital markets and equities business for Deutsche Bank from grass roots. When he started to lay the foundations in 1995 we were sceptical about his chances of success - silly us. By his charm and sheer force of personality (an open cheque book from Deutsche also helped the process) Mitchell created in four years what JP Morgan had failed to achieve in 15. It was a stunning accomplishment and marked Mitchell as someone who was simply in a different class from his contemporaries. Look at the recent flabby performance of Goldman Sachs or CSFB in fixed income. How much would they have paid to have Mitchell on their side? If he had auctioned himself with a reserve of $50m per annum for a five year contract there would have been no shortage of bidders.

* Deutsche Genossenschafts-Hypothekenbank

Europaische Hypthekenbank has redenominated its $1.5 billion Euro-CP programme to euro1.5 billion ($1.39 billion). It has also changed its name from Eurohypo European Mortgage Bank to its current issuer name. Deutsche Bank is the programme arranger.

* ABB International Finance NV

The Federal Reserve woke the international debt markets from their new year slumber on Wednesday when the US central bank announced a 50bp cut in the Fed funds rate aimed at averting a hard landing for the US economy. Having changed its stance to a tightening bias in December, the Fed has reacted to growing evidence in the last month of 2000 of a sharp slowdown in the economy — evidence that had led most economists to predict a rate cut of 25bp-50bp this month.

The Federal Reserve woke the international debt markets from their new year slumber on Wednesday when the US central bank announced a 50bp cut in the Fed funds rate aimed at averting a hard landing for the US economy. Having changed its stance to a tightening bias in December, the Fed has reacted to growing evidence in the last month of 2000 of a sharp slowdown in the economy - evidence that had led most economists to predict a rate cut of 25bp-50bp this month. However, the timing of the announcement, during a conference call at 11am EST, surprised the market. Nasdaq, which had fallen 7% on Tuesday, recorded on Wednesday its highest ever one day rise of 14%.

Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein has rationalised its debt function by merging its global markets and global finance businesses in a new global debt division. Andrew Pisker, who was co-head of global markets, heads the division. Global debt will unite the fixed income and corporate borrowing operations, combining bonds, derivatives, debt advisory and structuring with balance sheet and distribution under one roof. It will allow DrKW to leverage its bonds and loans operations more effectively.

Deutsche Bank and Merrill Lynch have grabbed the prestigious mandate for the Republic of Poland's minimum Eu500m 10 year bond issue - which will in all probability be the first transaction from eastern Europe in 2001. The two banks beat off competition from two other shortlisted banks, Credit Suisse First Boston (CSFB) and JP Morgan.

* Deutsche Bank Ireland plc

Portugal Telecom has increased the ceiling on its euro2 billion ($1.9 billion) global MTN programme to euro4 billion. Banco Espirito Santo Investimento, Banco Portugues de Investimento, BCP Investimento and Caixa Geral de Depositos have been added as domestic arrangers.

Ingvar Ragnarsson Aged 28 Senior funding manager, Islandsbanki-FBA How long have you been in MTNs? I've been in the MTN market since mid-1999 when I joined the funding team of FBA The Icelandic Investment Bank. A few months after the bank set up its EMTN Programme. FBA merged with Islandsbanki in May last year and I am now running its programme with my colleague William Symington. What is your favourite part of the job as an MTN issuer? I work with great people that you learn a lot from, both inside the bank as well as at our relationship banks, whether they are MTN dealers or not. Working in an international job broadens your horizon and accelerates the journey along the learning curve. Also, you do get the odd good lunch every now and then. Who is your favourite dealer of the month? We have a very good relationship with many dealers and I don't want to choose between them. What has been the most interesting trade you've seen in the last few months? Our last public issue: A euro355 million ($334.47 million) two-year FRN which ranks as the largest bond issue ever to come from Iceland. Although a vanilla transaction, it clearly marks a milestone for Icelandic bank funding. What do you think will be the most important trend in the next quarter? The return of Japanese institutional investors to the international markets in a meaningful way. Hopefully. What annoys you most about the market? This is a difficult one - and I think I'll skip it. Which of your competitors do you admire most and why? I don't think that admiration is the right word. We follow the activities of other successful issuers to see if we can learn from their experiences. Borrowers with similar ratings who face similar challenges as we do are of special interest. If you weren't an MTN dealer, what would you be? I have always been interested in the financial markets so I guess I would be doing something else in this sector. If I were to choose a job outside the financial world then it would be something with an international flavour. What car do you or would you like to drive? I currently drive a Honda Civic but like a true Icelander I expect to change soon into a big four wheel drive jeep with 38" tyres which I can safely use off-road, over rivers and on glaciers. What's your favourite restaurant? I think the Lobster House in Reykjavik is my favourite restaurant, they simply serve the best lobster that I have ever tasted - but of course Icelandic seafood is the best there is.

Queensland Treasury Corporation, one of the market's most frequent issuers in the mid-1990's, has updated its $3 billion Euro-MTN programme by dropping Greenwich NatWest as a dealer and replacing it with Macquarie Bank, National Australia Bank and TD Securities. The issuer, which issued 134 trades between 1994 and 1996, has only been in the market twice since 1998. The most recent trade that it did was an A$1 million ($61,000) 11-year note. Nearly 80% of its funding is denominated in Australian dollar.